Hartford Tries Dating
by Aiden Ravelle
Summary: Andrew has a date... Why doesn't Mack like her?


I don't own Power Rangers. Hope you enjoy!

"Mack, we're going to have a dinner guest tonight."

"Another business meeting?"

"Actually, no," Mack could tell his dad looked a bit nervous.

"A date, huh?" Mack winked.

Andrew sighed, "Yes. I've met with her a few times but I wanted to wait to tell you until it was a bit more serious."

"I can leave you two alone if you want."

"Actually, I was hoping you could meet her."

"What have you told her about me?"

"All she knows is I have a twenty-year-old son and that you were in Overdrive."

"Guess I'm hard to explain, huh? Well, I'll help Spencer get things ready so everything is perfect."

"Thanks, Mack."

"Emily, this is Mack. Mack, Emily."

The two shook hands in greeting and went to their seats at the table.

Mack watched the brunette as she wiped a strand of hair from her face. Her green eyes met his and she started talking, "So, Mack. Do you attend school?"

"No, I haven't figured out what I really want to do yet so I spend most of my time treasure hunting with dad."

"By your age I had my whole life planned out and was almost done with school," Mack thought she sounded a bit condescending but stayed quiet when he saw his dad smiling at her.

Mack listened to his dad and Emily talk. The few times he was brought into conversation it was by Emily: "You must have had trouble growing up without a female in the house," "I'm surprised you aren't spoiled being brought up in such a rich household," "That whole Overdrive thing was a good publicity stunt for your dad's businesses."

"So what do you think? She's great right?" Andrew asked his son after he closed the door.

"To be honest, outside of how rude she is, I'm getting bad vibes from her. She's bad news."

"I think you just need to get to know her a bit better."

Mack shook his head and headed to bed for the night. He met with Emily four more times over the next few weeks.

"Seriously dad, there is something off about her!" Mack pleaded.

"Maybe you are just jealous I'm not spending all of my time with you anymore."

Mack sighed, "I know all you've ever wanted is to settle down with someone and have kids. Once I found out what I was, I _knew_ I could never fully fill the void in your heart. The void of a real living breathing family. I expected after we found the Corona Aurora that you'd open up to dating. I just think you are rushing in with the first woman to show interest."

Mack didn't stay to hear his father's response, he just stormed off to meet up with Rose.

"Dad's not going to be happy," Mack stared at the computer screen.

"At least you know you were right," Rose assured.

"That doesn't make me feel better about this. He's going to be upset."

"I'll call the team together, alright? She might not go through with her original plan."

"Yeah, I'm going to head home and act as normal as possible," Mack smirked, "Rose, if something does happen…"

"I now have an extensive back up of your system and memories, you'll just forget anything between now and when you shut down, but you'll be back to normal as soon as possible."

"Thanks. Just in case though," Mack reached forward and pressed his lips against hers. She felt so warm.

After a few seconds he pulled away, "Sorry."

Rose pulled Mack in for another kiss. When she pulled away he chuckled, "If I lose my memory, please remind me of that."

They smiled at each other as Mack left the room to head home.

"Emily and I are going to watch a movie tonight. Do you want to join us?" Andrew tried to mend the bridge between them.

"I'm pretty sure you know my answer dad. I'm going to bed early," Mack shook his head, "Just know I'm always here for you."

Andrew looked confused for a moment but shrugged and went off to watch a movie.

About an hour later, Emily went to the restroom. A few moments later, the electric went off. Andrew heard the generators kick on as Spencer entered the room.

"There was no power surge, Sir. The only other time our systems have crashed like this was when Miratrix sent a virus."

"Check on Mack. I'm going to find Emily."

After realizing she wasn't in the nearest restroom, he ran down to his lab to check the security cameras. When he got there, however, he found she was tied up by the rangers. Spencer entered as well, not having found Mack.

"What is going on?"

"Mack!"

Will stood between Mr. Hartford and his son so they could explain the situation.

"Mack told me how Emily was giving off weird vibes," Rose explained as she was inserting discs into the Hartford computer as well as Mack, "We looked into her. She works for a rival company."

"Rose did some hacking and found she had a plan to steal your work and crash your technology with a virus," Dax added.

Ronny came up and put her hand on Mr. Hartford's shoulder, "Mack said you wouldn't believe him if he tried to tell you about it, so Rose backed up all of your system's data. And Mack's."

"So, Mack and I set this up to catch her in the act," Will finally moved out of the way.

"Emily?" Andrew had wide eyes.

She nodded, "You have a smart team. Though I never would have guessed you built yourself an android. I'm sure you could have met a woman and had a kid in the time it took to build him."

Andrew scowled, "Will and Dax, please turn her into the police."

They nodded and walked off with her in hand. Ronny and Spencer were talking in the corner while Rose kept watching the screens. Finally, the main computer was up and running, not missing any information. A few moments later, Mack opened his eyes. He did a quick scan of his surroundings before sitting up and swinging his legs off the table.

"What did I miss?"

"Plan went like you predicted and we caught her," Rose updated before she whispered something else in his ear.

"Oh," Mack smirked and raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

"Mack, are you alright?" Andrew finally approached his son.

"Apparently I'm great," he smiled again toward Rose before being serious, "I'm fine dad. Are you?"

"Still just a bit confused."

"Your girlfriend was bad. That's basically all you need to know," Mack hugged his dad, "Oh, I have no memory after I came home from Rose's. I don't know if we fought or anything…"

"No, but about this morning, I'm sorry about what I said. I think I was blinded by the chance of love."

Mack shrugged, "Like I said, I expected you'd start dating and I'm happy you have reached that point. Maybe background check the next one."

"I don't know if there will be a next one. I think you and I need to spend more time together. I want you to know you aren't less important to me because you are an android. You are my son, no matter what. I love you."

"Now, I think we all could use some hot chocolate to calm our nerves," Spencer suggested.

"Spencer, I think you are the only one who needs to be calmed, but hot chocolate does sound good," Ronny smiled following to help in the kitchen.

Andrew Hartford smiled, wondering how boring it would be without Mack and the rangers in his life.


End file.
